|
RCBJ-Audible (Listen For Free)
 |
Village Of Airmont Planning Board To Undertake Environmental Review For Senior Housing Project Disapproved By County Planning Department
Blue Rill Day Camp, situated on the banks of the Saddle River in Airmont, boasted three heated pools, a fishing/boating pond, a full adventure course with a rock wall and zip lines, a go kart track, an archery range, a theatre, a ceramics studio, two cooking rooms, and multiple tennis/basketball courts, baseball/soccer fields, and other facilities.
It last served campers in 2019.
But if a Monsey-based developer is successful, the former day camp at 434-444 Saddle River Road will soon become the site of 105 semi-detached senior housing units.
Last week, the developer, Blue Rill Estates, LLC, met with the Airmont Planning Board to review scoping for a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS), part of the lengthy land use process that will facilitate the transition from day camp to senior living. Scoping is essentially the process of identifying what aspects of the development may have potentially significant adverse impacts on the environment. It is also the step prior to public input on the DEIS.
As part of the development process, applicants usually seek what is known as a “negative declaration” – an acknowledgement from the Planning Board that the project will not have an adverse impact on the environment, or if there is an adverse impact, that adequate mitigation of those impacts are addressed by the developer.
In this instance, the developer voluntarily acknowledged that there may be significant adverse environmental impacts, and agreed to a “positive declaration” – a precursor to a more complete and thorough environmental review.
In 2021, Blue Rill Estates, LLC purchased the former day camp site for $8 million. A fire last month at the day camp caused some damage to the existing structures.
The site sits adjacent to the Town of Ramapo Saddle River pool, which closed in 2023, and is being considered for redevelopment into a park, miniature golf course, or some other recreational use.
The 18-acre day camp site sits partly in Airmont’s R-35 and RR-50 zoning districts, and is in a 100-year flood zone. Airmont, in response to a shortage of housing for seniors, amended its Village code and created the RSH (Specialized Housing Residential) district. The district is essentially a floating zone that allows senior housing by Special Permit from the Village Board of Trustees.
Based on the criteria established in the Airmont code – frontage on Saddle River Road, having more than four acres, and proximity to an NS (Neighborhood Shopping) zone — the Blue Rill site is eligible for a special permit. Several variances will also be required for the project, including side setbacks, side yards, building coverage, and distance between detached buildings.
There is also some confusion about whether the units are considered multi-family or detached townhomes.
The preliminary plans call for duplex units, side-by-side, with each 2,000 square-foot unit having its own driveway and garage. The buildings will be 1.5 stories high, the interior roads of the development will be private, and ingress and egress will be on Saddle River Road.
Two community buildings are proposed, with walking trails for passive recreation.
Eighteen potential items were on the developer’s scoping document including traffic concerns and stormwater management. The presentation, to a largely empty room last week, detailed the SEQRA process, and revealed to the Planning Board those items that could be either quickly discounted as having no impact or those requiring further study.
The next step is for the developer to prepare and submit a DEIS to the Airmont Planning Board addressing the potential environmental issues and their significance and plans for mitigation where appropriate.
The Rockland County Department of Planning, as part of the GML (General Municipal Law) review, had significant issues and disapproved the plan saying the application “demonstrates a significant overdevelopment of the parcel, increasing both density and the amount of development coverage on an environmentally constrained site.”
The review went on to say the “proposal has the potential to have significant adverse impacts to on-site wetlands as well as exacerbate flooding” and that the plan “lacks the open space necessary to create recreational amenities for a senior community.”
And, while the County recognized the need for additional housing, it felt that the approval of the project, which encroaches into the Saddle River, was tantamount to overdevelopment of the site and said the proposal must be scaled back to better comply with the RSH zone and its bulk requirements.
Day Camps & Bungalow Colonies
The day camps and bungalow colonies that once dotted rural Rockland County are ripe targets for redevelopment. Often situated on large lots in rural locations, these sites are being acquired for future development.
The 9-acre Camp Merockdim/Champion on West Clarkstown Road was acquired in 2022 for $3.35 million by a developer who has proposed 121 units of senior housing. That proposal, recently scaled back from 144 units, is under review by Clarkstown’s land use boards.
Plans to build 228 units of market rate housing at the former Oak Tree Lane bungalow colony in Haverstraw received approvals from the Town of Haverstraw and incentives from the Rockland County Industrial Development Authority. The project will contain a mix of studio, one and two-bedrooms in four buildings and a 10,000 square foot, one-story community center with outdoor pool and gym. A playground and dog park are planned as well as 471 parking spaces.
Last November, a 7.2 acre 22-unit bungalow colony at 149 West Clarkstown Road In New City sold for $4 million. No specific plans have been submitted to the Town of Clarkstown yet for the redevelopment, though a building loan was secured to construct multiple multi-family structures on the site. The property is in a residential R-40 zone, so there are various special permit options available to the developer, including senior housing. A cluster development is also possible on the 7.2 acre parcel.
